Several months ago I received an email 
from “Jane.” Jane was a reader asking a question about building her practice. She gave me permission to answer it on the blog and include her name. As a token of my appreciation for allowing me to publicly post her inquiry, I offered to link the post back to her website. After all, as you’ve seen quite recently, the questions and circumstances that I receive often seem very personal and unique to the therapists that are presenting them. And, as those of you who are more digitally savvy will know . . . external links from popular websites like Private Practice from the Inside Out can actually boost your search engine optimization quite a bit. Jane said she would appreciate that link and so I wrote the post and published it along with the link back to her business.
I was surprised to receive an email from Jane about a month later stating that she was upset because when she Googled the name of her business, my post came up on the first page of Google along with her website’s listing. At that time, she asked that I remove her name from the post and I complied.
Another month passed and then . . . Jane contacted me again to say that there were still tags on the post identifying her and that she would like all references to her name, her state and her business’ name removed.” And, that’s what I did as quickly as possible.
No, I didn’t have to take them down. And, yes, it did take about 20 minutes to remove them. But here’s the deal . . . I want my readers to be happy AND . . . I really owe her a debt of gratitude because her series of requests have been the impetus for this particular post. How? I realize that if she doesn’t know about her own digital footprint, then you may not know about your own digital footprint! And in this era of social media . . . you need to know! You REALLY NEED to KNOW! So here’s the deal . . . .
What You Say Online . . . Stays Online
Got it? That means every time you write a new post on your blog . . . even if you later decide to take it down, it’s most likely that someone has copied, pinned it, read it, written something in reference to it, linked to it. . . and so it remains.
If you’ve written an email and hit “send,” your server and the recipient (and anyone else she has sent it to), has a copy.
If you’ve sent a tweet, it’s out there.
Commented on a blog post? It still lives.
Given a website your email address or name or website? Then your information is still out there.
Started a new board on Pinterest? Those pins and comments have been passed on and on and on . . . .
If you share updates on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+, then you need to know that your digital footprint is out there representing you 24 / 7. That’s the good news . . . and the bad.
And, There’s More . . .
There are other places, too, that your digital profile is being seen . . . . Have you ever signed an online petition?
Shared a resource or opinion on an online discussion list?
Bragged about or slammed a business on a ratings page like Yelp?
Asked for help online?
It’s entirely possible that someone – maybe lots of folks – can still see parts of who you are, what you think (or at least thought), even what others thought of you and . . . there’s virtually nothing you can do about it!
What’s the Big Deal?
Why am I talking to you about this? Because most bloggers are not going to remove the content that you have shared on their sites. (And, truthfully, now that I’ve written this post, I probably won’t either.) And, clients will find you online.
Your best option is to be thoughtful about what you submit online. Don’t impulsively hit the “send” button without considering the implications – personal, clinical, and professional. The benefit of having a digital presence online is also the curse of being online. This is all social media meaning that connections are made, words are exchanged, and then . . . that’s right . . . they are shared. It’s the social in social media.
Part of running your business is about taking care of your business. That means that you are responsible for what you are putting out into the universe and the Twitterverse. We’ve all said something in a comment or in an email that we wished we could have taken back. Do yourself a favor and take a breath or two or even ten before you hit send because if there is anything that speaks louder than a paper trail, it’s your electronic trail that is commonly known as your digital footprint!
So true, and rather disturbing in some ways. I was talking with a friend this weekend about social media. She is uncomfortable using Facebook, and she is not very computer savvy. I reminded her that it was like learning to be safe when walking at night alone. People are vulnerable and need to know the lay of the land, e.g. what you post stays online forever! You have to learn the risks and dangers and ways to mitigate danger and damage! Good post, Tamara!
Hi, Bethany! Thanks for dropping in! It seems your friend and I are in similar situations. I started off with my blogs and slowly . . . reluctantly moved to Twitter . . . and then to LinkedIn . . . and then to Google+ . . . and Pinterest . . . and only in the last month to Facebook. Why Facebook last even though it’s certainly more “popular” than some of the others? Because my control over it and the security surrounding it is less than that of some of the other social media tools.
Only after several years of educating myself (and with lots of support along the way) have I tentatively started using Facebook. And, admittedly, I goofed right off the bat. I knew that I shouldn’t use my personal page on Facebook for my business but I accidentally did it anyway. Now . . . I’m trying to clean up my act as quickly as I can and move all my “friends” over to my business page and not interact at all on my personal page. Whew! As we learn better, we do better, right?
Your analogy, Bethany, of walking at night alone, is an excellent one. It’s important to know our risks and liabilities and how to mitigate those before we can make informed choices.